Garment finisher



Aug. 23, 1966 w. KILLEY GARMENT FINISHER Filed Jan. 29, 1964 llll 3 LLOYD W.KILLEY IN V EN TOR.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,268,126 GARMENT FINTSHER Lloyd W. Killey, 421 N. Main St., Monmouth, ill. Filed Jan. 29, 196 3, Ser. No. 341,043 6 Claims. (Cl. 22367) This invention relates generally to garment finishing machines and more particularly to devices of this nature that include, among other things, means to direct steam and hot air through the garment while the latter is held in an expanded or distended position upon a suitable bag or inflatable fabric form.

The object and general nature of this invention is the provision of a garment finishing device of the above mentioned type wherein the bag or fabric garment-supporting form is of new and improved construction. Specifically, it is one feature or" this invention to provide a distensible fabric form or bag which has a relatively small waist section, thereby accommodating garments, such as coats, dresses or the like, of relatively small size, but is provided with tubular arms at opposite sides so constructed and arranged so as to serve as auxiliary garment-supporting sections so connected with the main section of the inflatable form or bag as to receive inflating fluid from the main portion when the garment being treated fits loosely thereon, the auxiliary sections then being inflated to the extent necessary to smoothly distend the garment as required for the finishing operation to be performed.

In effect, therefore, this invention provides means in the nature of automatic valve means connected between U the auxiliary section or sections and the main portion of the inflatable bag whereby flow of air and steam between the main and auxiliary sections is restricted if a small garment is being treated but less restricted, or even fully opened, if larger garments are being treated. More specifically, the automatic valved connection between the main and auxiliary sections is in the nature of a fabric tube which, when folded snugly serves to materially restrict the flow of air and/or steam from the interior of the main section to the associated section or sections. Thus, a small garment placed on the form serves to hold the interconnecting tube in folded or collapsed condition, and thus prevents appreciable flow of fluid into the auxiliary section, but a larger garment will permit the interconnecting tube to unfold or extend and this permits a greater flow of air and/or steam into the auxiliary section extending or expanding the latter and the larger garment supported thereon.

A further important feature of this invention is the provision of new and improved clamping bar structure that is so constructed and arranged as to materially facilitate applying and removing the garment from the supporting form. Heretofore, those garment finishing machines furnished with garment clamping pads have been so built that movement of the clamping pads away from the bag is rather severely limited, which materially interfered with applying and removing the garments. According to this invention, a shiftable support for the clamping pad is provided and is arranged to be easily and quickly swung into and out of clamping position. When swung out of its clamping the entire structure of the clamping pad and operating lever are located in an out of the way position so that the garment may be readily applied to or removed from the supporting form.

More particularly, it is a feature of this invention to provide locking means for the swingable clamping bar support coordinated with the bar-clamping means so that with a single movement of a control part the clamping pad may be released and then swung into an out of the way position. Likewise, with a single movement the pad may be swung into contact with the garment and clamped in that position to prevent displacement of the garment.

- in which the principles of this invention have been incorporated.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the swingable mounting for one of the clamping pads of the finishing machine, showing the clamping pad in its released position and swung part way toward its outermost position; providing maximum access for applying and removing the garment from the supporting form.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary View of the tubular valve between the main and auxiliary bag sections, showing the valve in its folded or closed position.

Referring first to FIG. 1, the present invention has been illustrated as incorporated in a finishing machine of the type including a shaped fabric bag I mounted on a suitable frame 2 supported on a base 3. A finishing machine of this character is shown in US. Patent 2,412,172 to Petit, to which reference may be made if desired. The frame includes a front strip 5 and a rear strip 6 to which further reference will be made below.

According to this invention the bag 1 is of special construction. It includes an upper chest portion 8, a narrow waist portion 9, and an outwardly flared skirt portion 10. The bottom portion is fastened generally in leak tight relation to the base 3, as is customary. The base 3 includes or is connected with suitable steam and hot air supplying means as in the Petit patent, and air and steam are supplied to the interior of the bag 1 from the base 3. Ordinarily the air and steam are supplied to the bag 1 from below. At each side of the bag 1 I provide an auxiliary section in the form of a tube 13, each tube opening into the upper portion of the main section of the bag 1 through an aperture or opening 14, and the generally central portion of each auxiliary section or tube 13 is connected to the waist portion 8 by a tubular part 15. The latter is fairly short in length and is connected at 16 into the waist section 8 at a point higher than the point 17 at which the tube 15 is connected to the auxiliary section 13. The lower end of each section 13 is connected to the lower part of the bag, as by a line of stitching but these is no communication between the lower end of the section 13 and the bag 1.

The connecting tubes 15 serve as automatic valves controlling the flow of steam and/or air from the main secsion is needed to fill out the particular garment being sleeves '13 according to whether or not additional expantion is needed to fill out the particular garment being worked on, Whether large or small. For example, if the garment mounted on the form or bag :1 is small it holds the tube 13 close to the bag 1, with the result that the tube 15 is folded or collapsed, as shown in FIG. 4, thus acting as an automatic valve shutting off any flow of inflating steam or air into the auxiliary section 13. However, if the garment is larger, then the tube 15 is not so tightly folded and hence at least some steam or air may flow into and inflate the section 13, with the result that the garment, whether large or small, is smoothly extended for the finishing operation.

As shown in FIG. 1, the inner opening of the tube 15 is above the level of the opening 17, which contributes to the automatic valve action just described, but this invention contemplates any way of causing the folding or collapsing of the tube 15 when small garments are being processed.

The flare 10 formed in the bag 1 serves the important purpose of distending with sufficient volume to take care of long skirt-s, long coats and the like, but if addi tional expansion is needed it can be supplied by a second set of auxiliary tubes 21 shorter than the tubes 13, being connected into the latter, as at 22, below the suit coat line. The lowermost parts of the auxiliary tubes 21 are suitably attached to the lower end of the associated auxiliary tube 13 but is not in communication therewith. To provide an appreciable amount of automatic inflation of the tubes 21, the lower portions of the latter are connected by automatic valve tubes 24 constructed similar to and acting substantially the same as the valve tubes 15.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the base 3 is provided with an upwardly extending bracket 31 fixed rigidly to the base at the bottom of the machine according to the Petit patent, but according to this invention the bracket 31 is fixed to a swingable arm 34 that is pivoted at 35 to a pair of apertured lugs 36a carried by the base 3. The arm 34 is curved corresponding to the base 3 or otherwise of comparable configuration. A garment-engaging pad 36 is disposed in a vertical position and is adapted to be forced against a garment placed on the bag 1, the pad bearing through the garment against the front strip for holding the garment in position. The pad is pivoted to a spring arm 37 that at its lower end is removably fixed to a channel arm 38 pivoted at 39 to the rigid arm 31. The upper end of the channel arm 38 pivotally receives a short link 41 the other end of which is pivoted to a lever 43, the lower end of which is pivoted at 44 to the rigid arm or support 31. A block 45 is threadedl; adjustable along the lever 43 and may be fixed in ad justment by one or more lock nuts 46. A pivot 47 connects the block 45 to the link 41.

The pad 36 and associated structure just described is largely conventional, with the support 31 welded or otherwise rigidly fixed to the base 3, and in an arrangement of this kind the pad 36 is brought up against the garment on the bag 1 by swinging the lever 43 toward the form 1 until the parts 41 and 43, which serve as toggle links, go into an overcenter position, locking the pad 36 in garment holding position. When the garment is finished the pad 36 is drawn away by pulling outwardly on the lever 43, which permits the pad to move away from and out of contact with the garment. However, in prior art forms, the pad does not move very far away from the form so that when applying the next garment to be processed, the pad is in the way of the operator who is required to work the garment down in between the pad and the adjacent form.

According to this invention, and as mentioned above, the support 31 is mounted on a swingable arm, shown at 34, which, as shown in the lower part of FIG. 1, is swingable out away from the base 3 and carries the pad 36 a relatively great distance from the form 1 so that the operator may easily and quickly bring the next garment to be processed down into position on the form or bag 1. After the garment is in position to apply the pad all the operator has to do is to grasp the upper end of the lever 43 and to swing the latter with the support 31 and the arm 34 around into position against the base 3.

In order to lock the arm to the base so that pressure may be applied through the pad 36 against the garment, so as to hold the front closed, or the slit closed, as where the pad 36 is at the back of the form 1, I provide a detent bar 51 and fix the uper end thereof rigidly to the channel arm 38 in any suitable way. The lower end of the member 51, indicated at 52, serves as a latch and is adapted to move behind a detent 53 formed on the base 3 when the swingable support 34 is swung into position against the base 3 and the pad 36 pressed against the form 1. To this end the parts are so constructed and arranged that the end 52 passes over the detent when the pad and arm assembly is brought around toward the base 3, but when the lever 43 is pressed forwardly to bring the pad 36 against the garment the detent part 52 moves into position behind the part 53 locking the supporting arm 34 rigidly to the base.

It will be understood that while I have shown and described only one garment-engaging pad 36, there may be one at both the front and back of the form 1, each having the same supporting and locking means just described.

According to this invention I provide extensions to the frame strips 5 and 6 and the pads 36 so that, for example, pressure may be applied by the pads to the outwardly flaring edge portions of cutaway coats so as to hold these portions against displacement when the steam and/ or air is turned on to inflate the form. The extensions on the frame strip 5 are shown at 69 in FIG. 1 and the corresponding extensions on the pad are shown at 61, and may take any shape desired, preferably being as shown.

While I have shown and described above the preferred structure in which the principles of my invention have been incorporated, it is to be understood that widely different means may be employed in the practice of the broader aspects of my invention.

Accordingly, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A garment finisher comprising a base adapted to support a garment-receiving bag, a horizontal swingable arm pivoted adjacent one end to said base, an upwardly extending bracket fixed at its lower end to the other end portion of said swingable arm, a part pivotally connected to said bracket below its upper portion, a garment-engaging pad resiliently connected to the upper portion of said pivoted part, lever and link means acting between said pad and the upper portion of said bracket for clamping said pad against said bag, and a lock connected with the lower end of said pivoted part for locking said swingable arm to said base closely adjacent the latter, release of said lock serving to free said arm for movement of said arm and pad away from said base and bag.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1, further characterized by said lock comprising a rigid bar fixed to said pivoted part and extending downwardly therefrom substantially to said base, and a detent on said base to cooperate with said rigid bar.

3. In a garment finishing machine:

an upright, garment-supporting frame having a base provided with an arcuate outer periphery;

a first arcuate arm substantially complemental to said outer periphery of the base;

pivot means mounting one end of said first arm on said base for swinging movement with respect thereto into and out of a location in relatively close proximity to said outer periphery thereof;

an elongated bracket rigidly secured at one extremity thereof to the opposite end of said first arm and extending upwardly and outwardly therefrom;

a second arm including a first, rigid section and a second, resilient section, one end of said first section being secured to one end of said second section with said first section extending outwardly from and substantially longitudinally of said second section;

means pivotally mounting the opposite end of said first section on said bracket intermediate the extremities of the latter;

a garment-engaging pad;

means hingedly securing the opposite end of said second section to said pad;

a lever swingably mounted at one end thereof on said bracket adjacent to the opposite extremity of the latter;

a block adjustably mounted on said lever and movable longitudinally thereof into any one of a number of fixed dispositions thereon;

a toggle linkage pivotally interconnecting said block and said second arm at the juncture of said first and second sections thereof, said pad being disposed for movement into and out of an operative position adjacent to said frame as said arm moves into and out of said location, said lever being swingable in a direction to move said pad toward said frame, into said position, and against a garment carried by the frame, said toggle linkage being movable into an over-center disposition as the pad moves into said position to thereby releasably retain the pad with said garment being pressed against the frame;

a detent on said base and projecting upwardly therefrom; and

a bar secured to said bracket intermediate its extremities and extending downwardly and outwardly therefrom, the lower end of said bar being movable in one direction over said detent and onto one side thereof as said first arm moves into said location, whereby the detent releasably prevents movement of the bar in the opposite direction until said lower end of the bar can move toward the opposite side of the detent.

4. In a garment finishing machine:

an upright, garment supporting frame having a base;

an elongated, upwardly extending bracket;

means mounting said bracket on said base swinging movement about a generally vertical axis spaced from the longitudinal axis of the bracket;

a pad carried by said bracket about the base and being movable in response to the swinging movement thereof into and out of an operative position against a garment on said frame; and

means releasably retaining said pad in said position, said mounting means including an arm secured at one end thereof to said bracket adjacent the lower extremity of the latter, and pivot means swingably mounting the opposite end of the arm on said base, the latter being provided with an arcuate outer periphery, said pivot means being disposed on said base adjacent to said outer periphery thereof, said arm being arcuate 4 and substantially complemental to said outer periphery and being movable into relatively close proximity thereto as said pad moves into said position.

5. In a garment finishing machine;

an upright, garment supporting frame having a base;

an elongated, upwardly extending bracket;

means mounting said bracket on said base for swinging movement about a generally vertical axis spaced from the longitudinal axis of the bracket;

a pad carried by said bracket about the base and being movable in response to the swinging movement thereof into and out of an operative position against a garment on said frame; and

means releasably retaining said pad in said position, said retaining means including structure releasably connecting said bracket to said base, the structure including a detent secured to and projecting upwardly from said base, and a bar secured to and extending outwardly from said bracket, said bar being movable into releasably coupled relationship with said detent as said pad is moved into said position.

6. In a garment finishing machine as set forth in claim 5, wherein said bar is movable in one direction over said detent and onto one side thereof, said detent being dis posed for preventing movement of said bar in the opposite direction.

References titted by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,353,741 7/1944 Matthews et al 223- 2,429,047 10/ 1947 Bowen 223-70 2,627,128 2/1953 Jones 223-73 2,669,374 2/1954 Jones 223-57 2,720,347 10/ 1955 Jackson 223-67 2,834,523 5/1958 Maxwell et al 223-57 2,845,205 7/1958 Rosenthal 223-73 2,881,963 4/1959 Jackson 223-70 2,943,772 7/1960 Weihmayr 223-57 2,948,443 8/ 1960 Richterkessing et al. 223-67 2,990,983 7/1961 Jackson 223-67 0 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

G. V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A GARMENT FINISHER COMPRISING A BASE ADAPTED TO SUPPORT A GARMENT-RECEIVING BAG, A HORIZONTAL SWINGABLE ARM PIVOTED ADJACENT ONE END OF SAID BASE, AN UPWARDLY EXTENDING BRACKET FIXED AT ITS LOWER END TO THE OTHER END PORTION OF SAID SWINGABLE ARM, A PART PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO SAID BRACKET BELOW ITS UPPER PORTION, A GARMENT-ENGAGING PAD RESILIENTLY CONNECTED TO THE UPPER PORTION OF SAID PIVOTED PART, LEVER AND LINK MEANS ACTING BETWEEN SAID PAD AND THE UPPER PORTION OF SAID BRACKET FOR CLAMPING SAID PAD AGAINST SAID BAG, AND A LOCK CONNECTED WITH THE LOWER END OF SAID PIVOTED PART FOR LOCKING SAID SWINGABLE ARM TO SAID BASE CLOSELY ADJACENT THE LATTER, RELEASE OF SAID LOCK SERVING TO FREE SAID ARM FOR MOVEMENT OF SAID ARM AND PAD AWAY FROM SAID BASE AND BAG. 